2025 in review
At the end of every year I do a big yearly review. I go through all my notes, look through all my photos, check my calendar and try to list out everything I did and learned. It takes a while, and it’s always hard to finish. But it gives me a sense of control about what I am doing in life.
2025 was a year of Big Change. The changes haven’t finished yet, so it’s too early to tell if it was amazing or just worthwhile.
Timeline of events
January to March
I spent January visiting a lot of artshows with my wife. I also joined the Airfryer cult, and really drank the coolaid.
Gave a talk at an entrepreneur meetup about rapidly learning from users. Made a good friend in the process.
Saw the alps for the first time in Innsbruck, I say “saw them” because I’ve flown over them many times, driven through them twice, and even camped on one. But never seen the peaks properly.
Vibe coded a lot with my friends Fritjof, Peter and Alex. Celebrated St Patricks in a very traditional pub night!
April to June
Celebrated my birthday with a good old fashioned home party, some of the guests loved it, some didn’t. I’m actually much too old for this, but it’s fun to revisit my 20s sometimes.
We had out Scottish Friend over for easter and did some traditional celebrations, unfortuantely I lost a front tooth in a Döner Kebab.
My wife got caught in the Iberian Blackout while visiting her mom, so now we’re preppers.
We went to more art shows and found some new favourite places in Berlin.
Attended the second every Local First Conf in Berlin!
Then started the summer with a Man Spa in Sweden and Midsummers celebrations in the Archipelago.
July to September
I found a new favourite coffee place in Stockholm.
Started a new AI company that might revolutionise enterprise!
Celebrated one of my oldest friends 40th, hung out with friends in Berlin, and even attended the Love Parade!
We took my mother-in-law to the Castles of Potsdam and the Reichstag building in Berlin.
Then we ended the summer with visiting the Oktoberfest again! It was great fun, but again I’m feeling a little too old.
October to December
In October our stuff was finally shipped to to Lisbon, so while we started the move way back in 2023, we can now finally always answer that we both live in Lisbon.
We had a first cosy Halloween in Lisbon and mother-in-law came over for the first of Advent.
Then we had a long Christmas stay in Stockholm, had bad luck and missed my brothers 50th, but still had a good time.
We ended the year together in Lisbon with a very calm party after such a long Christmas. Ready to start a new year with a lot less logistics, and a lot more adventures.****
Projects
2025 was all about AI projects, ofc. I didn’t list all the things that I just tried, or never shipped.
INXM: Intellectus Ex Machina
link Vibe coding reliable enterprise automations.
Enterprises need to streamline their processes. There’s too much waste managing the paperwork and systems that surround the core business. Automation solves this, but up until now, automation has been fragile and in the hands of IT.
INXM solves this by giving enterprise teams a natural language platform that creates on the fly automations for you. It’s almost like ESP or remote control for your entire business.
Find Insight
link Automate your user research by sending your users an AI interview. Just write down things you’d like to know, and send the interview to people who may have the answer. Find Insight talks it over with them, and analyses the result for you.
While it doesn’t replace expert interviewers, it does replace most interviews, and can scale a lot better. Cutting customers costs to a fraction.
I’ve handed this over to my old friend Fredrik for continued development as I focus on INXM.
Books
These are some of the most interesting books I read. All the links are amazon affiliate links, please use them if you are interested in the books.
Tortilla Flat I believe this is John Steinbecks first book, and it gives you nostalgia for a place you’ve never been, and a longing to hang out with a group of friends you probably don’t want to have. I was surprised by how riveting and annoying this book was. The ending is fantastic.
The Illiad The epic that founded the entire western canon. It’s not an entertaining read, and you really need to think about it to get the value from it. But because it’s so fundamental you will likely find things in here that shape your life, similar to stories from the Bible. If you haven’t read it, you should. But stay away from the modern translation, read the penguin translation.
Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger There is an infinite amount of good ideas to pick up from Charlie Munger. Thank you Stripe Press for bringing this back in print.
Fahrenheit 451 Another classic which is relevant again as we’re once more assulted by the wise and powerful to not question or learn, only repeat what they want us to think.
Podcasts
Founders Still the best podcast in the world. If you want to do anything in life, this is where you can learn what you need.
Movies
The Phoenician Scheme Wes Andersson nails a new world. After a couple of near misses, The Phoenician Scheme succeeds in delivering a magic that few films can match.
Megalopolis Fancis Ford Coppola’s last film. I didn’t get it at all. Just a complete mess of madness to me.
American Gigolo The 80s and 90s are being sold as the “good old days” harder than ever. This classic from the 80s shows that it was mostly garbage.
Things I learned
AI increasese the pace of learning drastically. So from now on, I’m only listing the experiments I did that lead to behaviour change. Simply learning intellectually no longer counts in the world of infinite minds.
Lists are procrastination
I’ve spent years collecting and maintaining lists. This year I finally learned that this is all procrastinating from doing the actual work.
Don’t keep lists of tasks, or media. If you can’t remember them, you’re not motivated anyway, and doing them will be a drag. You will waste time pushing yourself instead of doing something that pulls you.
For outcomes you can’t do now, or in one go, keep 3 simple lists: Now, Next or Never. Clear them out monthly.
Only put things on them that can be done. “Moving to a new country” is an outcome, you can allocate time and come up with the tasks you need to do. “Clean out the garage” is a task and you can put it on your calendar and check it off. “Get in shape” is a useless vague notion. Define what it means as an outcome instead.
You are Low Agency because you’re too serious
This year Agency has hit the mainsteam. With infinite minds available to anyone, suddenly it’s clear to everyone that it’s taking action that is the important differentiator.
This year I learned that most of the time I’m Low Agency it’s because I’m taking something too seriously. I start believing something is “too important to get wrong” and all progress stalls.
If it’s important, it’s important enough to play around with and get wrong a few times.